


cause I heard it (screaming out your name)

by pastelcolour



Category: The Last of Us (Video Games)
Genre: F/F, Post-The Last of Us Part II (Video Game), Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Soulmates, Title from an Adele Song
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-07
Updated: 2020-11-07
Packaged: 2021-03-09 01:20:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,711
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27426367
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pastelcolour/pseuds/pastelcolour
Summary: Ellie got her soulmate mark one day after she swore she would be with Riley forever.Dina got hers and attached herself into it, ignoring all the pain that surrounded her.Both of them promised they wouldn’t fall for each other, but the world is a cruel place, and love is unavoidable.
Relationships: Dina/Ellie (The Last of Us)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 36





	cause I heard it (screaming out your name)

**Author's Note:**

> TW: suicide mention

Ellie Williams always thought about her soulmate when she was younger, even if they hadn’t met yet. Often she would lay on her bed in the military basis and dream of their eyes, wondering if they were bright or dark. If they had freckles or didn’t, if they would be taller or smaller than her - what wouldn’t be a conquer, giving her 5’0” height, and she was already 13! 

And she was already 13 and didn’t have her soulmate mark, what was frustrating, though it was way better than having one of those horrible scars people got when their mates died. Ellie didn’t know her soulmate, but she didn’t want them to die. She usually thought she would grief a lot if they died before they met. 

Then she became a very angry and angustied person. It made her feel mad to see Riley one night gaining her mark, a full moon in her wrist, and didn’t get hers. It wasn’t right; she was supposed to be Riley’s soulmate.  _ Ellie  _ should have been the one Riley could always count on, and not another person they never met before. It was unfair, but she kept quiet, didn’t say anything to her friends as her happiness seemed to burst. 

_ Try to be happy for her,  _ her mind kept telling her as the days passed and Riley would stare at the moon with bright eyes, rubbing her thumb on her wrist. Ellie felt her heart ache when she saw her friend like that. She really wished she would be with Riley forever - so she decided one night she didn’t care about soulmates. She was now 14 and still didn’t have hers, so it could mean two things: her soulmate was younger than her or she was going to receive it soon. 

One night before Ellie received her mark, Riley’s disappeared, turning into a mole in the center of her temple. A round and black scar, that only meant her mate was dead. That night, Riley asked Ellie if she believed in true love. 

“I believe we can find love without our soulmates” she said in a desperate way, trying to keep Riley’s eyes on hers. “I don’t have one, do you see? And I don’t care. We can stay together all our lives if we want” she swore to Riley in a pinky-promise, knowing their promises could only be broken by death now. 

Less than 24 hours later, Ellie woke up, the back of her neck burning and scratching, making her feel dizzy and anxious. She knew what that meant, she knew she now had her soulmate mark. But she couldn’t- she promised Riley. She would not break her promises. Not for a person she didn’t even know. 

“Your is a tree,” Riley said one day, pointing at the back of her neck, bare as her auburn hair was up in a ponytail. “Do you like it? It’s beautiful.” 

“I don’t care,” she said and shrugged. She didn’t care at all, she was serious when she said she would trust and love Riley, not anyone else. Riley smiled at her, however was a sad smile, like she knew Ellie was lying. 

Dina was 15-years-old when she got her mark. It was a simple tree in her right chest, just an outline of a pine, still it was beautiful. Sure, she was pretty happy her soulmate was alive and reached the age to receive their marks, but she didn’t know them. She only knew they were younger than her, because of her advanced age of receiving her mark when her sister Talia received her when she was 12. Talia lasted 3 years before they met each other. She was happy with him for 2 years before she was killed in patrol. Dina saw her brother-in-law’s mark disappear and a thin scar appeared where her sister got cut. 

Her sister didn’t get to see Dina’s soulmate die. She wished she didn’t, too. It was an early Saturday’s morning when her arm started aching so much it went numb within 5 minutes. Then, a bite mark appeared there, symbolizing only one thing: her soulmate was dead. Dina was alone. For the first time in all her life, she was truly alone. 

Talia and her mother were gone, and now her soulmate too. However, something was off. Her mark didn’t fade away, no, it just stayed there, acting like there was nothing wrong. She was aware her soulmate was bitten, but why wasn’t it fading? The fuck. It was confusing, so she just ignored it. 

She met Jesse when she was barely 16, 1 month after the scar in her wrist showed up. Jesse would often touch her there with delicate fingers, knowing it hurt her. And he always kissed her soulmate’s mark, asking God why wasn’t him her soulmate. 

“Who cares about future and soulmates?” Dina asked him one day when they were bakering for Christmas. Jackson was happy and alive that night, and Dina felt like she could live in that moment. “Mine’s dead, yours is dead too. Why don’t we just make up and be happy for the rest of your lives?”

And as if the universe was playing with them, spring came and with it, her mark got coloured. Dina was a smart girl, she understood it meant her soulmate was somehow near to her. She was happy but frustrated, what would she tell Jesse? Did she have to tell him anything at all or would he understand without the need of an explanation? 

But it wasn’t like she had the need to be with her soulmate. Tommy told her one night it only meant she could trust her mate with her life and all the things that mattered to her, however they didn’t need to end up together. And, truth be told, Dina wasn’t expecting a girl. A beautiful, gorgeous and funny girl, still she was a jewish. It was not right for her to be with a girl, so she just ignored Ellie, blocking her from her feelings. 

It lasted almost 3 years before she couldn’t take it anymore. She would flinch every time Ellie put her auburn hair up in a ponytail, showing the world the green and beautiful pine in the back of her neck. She would get mad and jealous every time when she saw Cat squeezing Ellie’s tight. She didn’t understand why Jesse’s kiss suddenly felt so wrong, like she was doing something bad. She tried, she would say to Elohim every night, she tried ignoring Ellie, but fuck, everyday she woke up thinking about her, seeing only her and living only for her. 

So she took Ellie to dance one night and kissed her before she even knew what she was doing. It felt like she belonged there. Like she was home again, like there was no infection, like nothing wrong was happening in the world at that moment. Dina felt she could live all her life with Ellie by her side, and she wanted it. 

Things got disturbing after that night. Suddenly, Ellie was living only to avenge her dead father, and Dina would follow her straight into hell if it meant she would be with Ellie. If it meant she could kiss Ellie’s lips one more time before the sunrise, knowing that could be the last time they saw each other. 

And then, they built a family. The farm, JJ, happiness. Everything was doing so well she could not ask for more. And then Tommy showed up and fucked Ellie’s already fucked head. Dina blamed him for all the bad things that happened after their meeting at the farm, though she knew Ellie was going to follow everything he said to her. 

_ You go, I go.  _

Later that morning, Dina cried as she held JJ next to her chest, riding off the farm, knowing Ellie would be gone forever.  _ She  _ would be gone forever. 

Dina didn’t go to Jackson. She wouldn’t bare to look at Tommy’s face being aware he was the one who destroyed her family, even if he was the one who welcomed her in Jackson for the first time. Jesse was long dead, her family either, she didn’t have a place there. Not anymore. So she rode off to an abandoned city, looking for any civilization she could find and live in. 

All the nights after putting JJ to bed, Dina would look at her mark, making sure Ellie was ok. To make sure she was still breathing somewhere, even if she got bitten more times after she left. 

One night, though, Dina could never forget, she woke up dizzy, sick to her stomach, feeling fever taking control of her body. There was something wrong, there was something wrong with  _ Ellie.  _ She couldn’t breath, her eyes were hurting, and her neck was on fire. What was happening? She reached JJ, looking at his eyes, seeing him panic as she tried as hard as she could to calm him and breathe. 

Everything went black.

The mark in her chest is long gone. Everything that is left over Ellie is an old flannel, her rainy smell absent for years now. Dina watches JJ in the backyard of the house they are now living in, the 6-years-old boy everyday reminds her more of Jesse. He is playing with a ball, kicking it around the place and yelling in an infant voice whenever he hits the object. Dina takes her eyes off of him for a second, looking at the sun, briefly seeing Ellie’s old flannel in the clothesline, washed after she wore it last night. 

The woman touches her neck, feeling the scar under her fingers. She doesn’t like to think how it was for Ellie to tie a rope on her neck, and shivers every time she catches herself thinking about it. She still misses her soulmate, even 5 years after their break up, and recognizes people around the city she found are still curious about the ugly scar on her neck. 

But she doesn’t hate it. She hates what it meant one day. Now, however, she grows attached to it always whether she touches it, by accident or not. Looking at the sunset now, she’s touching it unconsciously. 

_ If only she hadn’t left... _

**Author's Note:**

> yep, I know it hurts.


End file.
